{"id":662302,"date":"2026-04-04T05:48:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T05:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/662302\/"},"modified":"2026-04-04T05:48:18","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T05:48:18","slug":"konnor-griffin-talks-unusual-pirates-celebration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/662302\/","title":{"rendered":"Konnor Griffin Talks Unusual Pirates Celebration"},"content":{"rendered":"

After highly-touted prospect Konnor Griffin debuted for the Pittsburgh Pirates<\/a> on Friday, his team gave him a traffic cone.<\/p>\n

Yes, an orange traffic cone for his first MLB<\/a> hit \u2014 an RBI double to center field off of a curveball. The Pirates tradition started this season, thanks to outfielder Jake Mangum, to celebrate big hits, and Griffin\u2019s debut parked it front and center.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was special,\u201d Griffin told reporters after a 5-4 win over the Baltimore Orioles on Friday. \u201cGot to hoist the cone (in) celebration. This team\u2019s awesome. We\u2019re going to do a lot of great things.\u201d<\/p>\n

Griffin brought the Pirates fans to a standing ovation with his first career hit as the 19-year-old phenom went to second base. He became the youngest shortstop to debut since Alex Rodriguez in 1994, and Griffin\u2019s debut marked the most-anticipated since Mike Trout in 2011.<\/p>\n

More News: Reaction Pouring in Over Blue Jays-Marlins Trade<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Konnor<\/p>\n

More News: Mets Fans Receive Worst Possible Freddy Peralta Extension News<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything in general was just amazing, running onto the field, hearing my name called,\u201d Griffin said. \u201cI tried to just be present.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDidn\u2019t really feel my feet much,\u201d Griffin added, \u201cbut just tried to be where my feet were and enjoy the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

The moment wasn\u2019t too big for Griffin, who impressed in the minor leagues last year as he moved up through each level. Griffin hit .333 with 21 home runs, 94 RBI, and 65 stolen bases.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh selected Griffin with the No. 9 pick in the 2024 draft. He passed on playing for LSU to join the Pirates\u2019 farm system in 2025 as his career took off.<\/p>\n

On Friday, Griffin matched that batting average with a 1-3 performance at the plate, and he scored a run, too. He helped the Pirates improve to 4-3 on the season as the team held on after a 4-0 start.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was awesome, getting the win,\u201d Griffin said. \u201cIt was just a cherry on top. It was hands down one of the best hits of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n

More News: Baseball Player’s Wild Home Run Bounces Off Opponents Head \u2014 Watch It Here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After highly-touted prospect Konnor Griffin debuted for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday, his team gave him a traffic…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":662303,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2402],"tags":[5,4,10,776,64,4297],"class_list":{"0":"post-662302","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh-pirates","8":"tag-baseball","9":"tag-mlb","10":"tag-pirates","11":"tag-pittsburgh","12":"tag-pittsburgh-pirates","13":"tag-pittsburghpirates"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116344869224538190","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662302","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=662302"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/662302\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/662303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=662302"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=662302"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=662302"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}